


Blackmail

by mar_etadmare



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Gen, One Shot, You Have Been Warned, honestly idk what happened, it's utter trash please don't read, just two bros and McDonald's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 12:18:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10639701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mar_etadmare/pseuds/mar_etadmare
Summary: Jason can sing, and doesn't want people to know. Tim loves blackmail, and everybody knows. So when Tim gets stranded with nothing but his cell phone and a very, ah, persuasive video, things just might work out for him. And his 'brother', as long as he cooperates.





	

Dick could sing. This fact had been proven time and time again from home videos Alfred has taken, firsthand accounts from literally everyone in the family, and even a Gotham Gossip interview where they got him to sing a few lines. He didn’t necessarily abuse this ability, per se, but once he started a song he wasn’t going to stop. Overplayed pop songs and musical numbers with Steph were his obvious favorites, but it was when he was alone in his room or apartment that he truly expressed himself through song. The rare times that someone happened to overhear him, they weren’t going to hear a tune that the radio had played often enough or a home theater performance that would leave the snooping individual laughing their ass off. He sang music that spoke to him, that he could connect with and relate to, and the emotion he put into every word would bring tears to any person’s eyes.

But even these moving experiences weren’t what people truly hoped to hear. A song his mother had taught him before she was murdered was the one thing he would never sing on request, and the one thing everyone wanted to hear. He sung it in Romani and had never bothered to translate it for anyone but himself. Call him selfish, but it was the one thing besides pictures and Robin that he had left of his past, and he wasn’t very keen to share.

So as long as you didn’t bring up his mother’s song, he would sing anything, anytime. And everyone knew it.

But a lesser known secret was the fact that Jason could also sing. Arguably, better than Dick, but definitely just as good. He never sang in public and asking him to sing was like a death wish (although a dare would get you a lot farther). The only way to hear Jason sing was if you stood outside his bathroom door while he showered or if you were home with him if he thought he was alone. And if you managed to hear him then you very lucky indeed.

But only the luckiest of people had ever heard them sing them together. Due to Dick’s upbringing and Alfred’s anger management intervention for Jason, both brothers know how to read music and play a certain number of instruments. Namely, guitar, piano, and (Jason’s personal favorite) the drums. The only time they play and sing together is when words fail them and only music can give them a deeper understanding of each other in that moment. Or if they’re bored and home alone. Whichever came first.

______________________________________________________________________________

Look, it wasn’t Tim’s fault. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the right place at the right time, depending on how you looked at it. It was a somewhat normal Sunday, with Dick and Jason both over early for ‘mandatory’ Sunday night family dinner. It wasn’t necessarily mandatory, and there were cases of exceptions, but Alfred would usually take away the cookie privileges of whoever didn’t show.

The weather outside was a balmy May afternoon, with a cloudless sky and soft breeze drifting into the spacious living room through the open window. All three brothers were respectfully minding their own business. The clacking of Tim’s laptop keys as he did online paperwork for WE was the only thing interrupting Jason’s reading and Dick’s guitar being tuned. It was a rare moment of peaceful coexistence. One that was only broken, or made better, by Dick quietly strumming on his newly tuned guitar.

It wasn’t a rare occurrence for Dick to play different instruments around the family, especially the guitar because it was so easy to carry around. Often times, he would hum along or even sing if he was in a good enough mood, but to the rest of the family they could easily make it background noise. Which is why when Dick did start humming, Tim could tune it out fairly easily. And why, since he did it so much, Tim could safely assume that Jason was doing the same. The older man had been said to be able to read through the apocalypse. So you can imagine Tim’s surprise when Jason started to hum along to whatever song Dick was playing out across the strings.

Barely even glancing away from his guitar, Dick started to sing softly. Tim slowly stopped typing and looked up from his computer, getting a sudden feeling of being forgotten. It was a sensation he was accustomed to, but not in a scenario like this. Not when it might actually benefit him instead of threatening to tear him apart.

Jason quietly joined in, flipped a page in his book, and continued reading. Their combined voices effortlessly drifted together in a harmony that had Tim holding his breath and praying they wouldn’t remember he was in the room.

A wicked little grin crosses his face as Dick and Jason continued to sing and read, and with the stealth that only years as a trained Bat could get you, Tim slid his phone out of his pocket, opened his camera app, and pressed record. His brothers didn’t even falter as the video captured almost ten minutes of three different duets, and a priceless document of two fallen angels singing with voices that sounded better than heaven.  
______________________________________________________________________________

Tim screwed up.

He had been tracking a guy from Iceberg Lounge into Pennsylvania where the perp had met up with some reps from a small drug cartel in Central City. After the men had a couple of drinks and unknowingly spilled all the information Tim needed, he dropped from the rafters of the warehouse to make quick work of the thugs. What he didn’t account for was that one of them had a block of C-4 and a wired detonator. The guy slipped outside while Red Robin made short work of his friends and managed to attach the explosive to his bike before blowing up the entire warehouse with a grenade. Tim just escaped the building with his life, but his comm and motorcycle were toast after the explosion triggered the C-4, leaving him stranded after the thug high tailed it out of the area. He was probably in another state by now. Leaving Tim with no change of clothes and no means of getting back to Gotham. Well, at least he had kept his cell phone in his utility belt.

And now you’re all caught up to how Tim screwed up.

Pulling out his device, he scrolled through his list of contacts as he collapsed against a tree opposite the burning warehouse. One of the first to go past was Bruce. Tim involuntarily shuddered at the thought of Bruce’s scolding for not being prepared, not figuring it out, not outsmarting them, not good enough. He didn’t have the emotional capacity to deal with that right now. And if he planned on staying away from Bruce, which he very much did, then he would have to stay away from most of the family. That meant Alfred and Dick were both out of the picture now. Damian couldn’t drive (at least not legally) and the girls were in Italy. Something about Batgirl training, though he saw them looking at a spa catalogue a week before they left. Which left one more logical choice.

As if to put off the inevitable, Tim took his time scrolling to the J’s. Finally arriving at Jason, he slowly hit the call button and slid the phone to his ear.

One ring.

Two.

Three.

Fou-.

“What the fuck do you want Replacement?” a groggy voice said across the line. And right, Sleepy Jason liked to cuss a lot more than Awake Jason.

“I need a favor,” Tim said hesitantly, twisting his cape around his hand.

A pause. The other end was silent for so long Tim began to think Jason had fallen back asleep.

“No,” the answer finally came. “You’re not hurt. Call Dickiebird if you’re looking for helpful older brother.”

Tim sighed. “Jason, I really-“

Click.

Tim sat in silence for a good fifteen seconds before screaming, “Really?!” at the top of his lungs to the inferno in front of him. Falling onto his back, he looked through the branches of the tree to the cloudless night sky above him. Unfortunately with a huge light source just about a hundred feet away, seeing the stars was completely out of the question. Letting out a long suffering groan, Tim tried to call Jason again. And again. And again. Nothing.

Well if he was stranded here he may as well make the most of it. In no time, he had walked a couple feet into the forest and set up a hammock with leaves, branches, and line from his grapple hook. With this vantage point, the dark colors of his suit made him indivisible to anyone who might walk by, but he would be able to see them perfectly. He was just settling down into a fitful sleep when beneath his cowl his eyes snapped open.

The video.

It seemed like a lifetime ago that Tim had accidentally sat in on Dick and Jason singing together. They both still had no idea of the footage that he had, as they had both left to help Alfred with dinner before either had noticed him, and Tim assumed that the latter would want to keep it that way. After all, he had a ‘reputation to maintain, Babybird’. A wicked grin not unlike the one he had worn on that Sunday afternoon adorned his features as Tim once again pulled out his phone.

Calling his brother once more to assure that he would be awake, Tim quickly opened his messages apps after Jason denied the call on the first ring. Scrolling through his camera roll, Tim hit send as fast as he could, praying that Jason was still awake.

It only took three minutes before Tim got an incoming call from Jason. Lazily swinging on his hammock and liking the familiar feeling of being in control, he answered with a carefree, “Hello?”

“What the fuck did I just watch?” Tim would have been terrified of how much danger that growl held if he had been in a two hour radius of Jason’s current location. But he wasn’t. So instead he smiled.

“That’s a video of you and Dick singing. Unless you want it sent to everyone in my contacts then I highly suggest you listen up,” Tim replied sweetly.

“…You are the sneakiest bastard I’ve ever met.”

Laughter filled the empty forest. “Tell me about it.”

“So,” Jason said, and Tim could hear the mattress shifting in the background as he got up started walking somewhere. “Just what does this favor include?”

________________________________________________________________________

Tim didn’t know how many hours it took for Jason to arrive at his location. He had fallen asleep, but the second the crunch of tires on gravel reached his ears he was out of the hammock and crouched on the ground, his bo staff already extended. The burning inferno that had been a warehouse was now reduced to rubble and a smoldering fire that danced no more than a foot in the air. Stalking through the trunks, Tim stopped at the edge of the forest and melted into the shadows there. Coming down the one road leading out of the clearing was a beat up red truck that Tim recognized as Jason’s. Stepping out of his cover, he collapsed his staff and pushed his cowl back. Standing to the side as Jason skidded to a stop a little too close for comfort, Tim pulled the passenger door open when the car came to a stop. Immediately a small duffel bag was thrown at his face, which he just managed to catch in time..

“Go change,” Jason called out at him.

Smirking, Tim walked a good distance into the woods before stripping and throwing on the sweatpants, hoodie, and fuzzy Batman socks he found inside. He also used a rag Jason had packed to wipe the soot and ash from his face and body. Feeling refreshed and unsurprisingly famished, Tim threw his uniform into the bag and picked his way back to the truck in the dawning light. Once he tossed the bag in the backseat and was safely buckled into the front, he didn’t even try to stop the long suffering sigh that escaped him as he sank into the torn leather and closed his eyes.

“Rough night?” Jason asked as he put the car in drive and pulled out of the clearing.

“You could say that,” he said without opening his eyes.

Suddenly a paper bag smacked him in the face.

“Hey!” Tim exclaimed. “What the he-” Oh. It was a McDonald’s bag.

Tim tore into the hamburgers Jason had got and downed a whole one before Jason could even get one out for himself.

Jay side eyed him around his own burger. “I take it you’re hungry?” he smirked, taking in the ketchup smeared on Tim’s cheek and the second burger already unwrapped and half way gone in his hand.

“Mmhmm,” he hummed. “Um stahving.”

Jason chuckled as they pulled onto a main road and headed for the highway ramp. Even though the sun was starting to peek out of the horizon, cars on the roads were scarce. Jason ran three red lights and merged onto the highway without a single person seeing.

“So…” he started as Tim came up for air around his third burger. Before he could stop him, Jason took one hand off the wheel to swipe a handful of fries. “This video.”

“I swear not to send it to anyone,” Tim said, recognizing the steel that underlined his brother’s words. “You did me the favor.”

Jay nodded. “Good.”

The rest of the car ride passed with comfortable conversation and silence. The only argument that happened was over the radio stations. Bruce was never brought up unless it was to make fun of something he had done, and night job business stayed firmly at the back of their minds. Tim would never admit, but it some of the most relaxing hours of his life.

________________________________________________________________________

It had been a couple months since Tim had taken that video. He still had it, and his promise to Jason to never share it with anybody. He would never understand why Jay didn’t share his voice with people like Dick did, but it didn’t matter. The rest of the family had each captured their own recordings of him singing without him knowing it. And on those days when Tim laid in bed and didn’t have the energy to get up, to live anymore, or those days when the weight of the world and Bruce’s expectations felt particularly heavy, or those days when it was just a Bad Night and he lost some civilians that wouldn’t stop haunting him… Well, Jason didn’t need to know that on those days Tim would pull out his phone and listen to that video. And after he did the light at his unending tunnel would seem to get a little brighter.

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry, this is completely trash. Constructive criticism is always appreciated and anything else you want to let me know about it.


End file.
